CARRIAGE DRAIN. 



CARROT. 



breadth of the main it crosses. It is the most 

 expensive conveyance belonging to the irrigat- 

 ing of land. 



CARRIAGE DRAIN. See DRAINS. 



CARROT (Fr. caroie). A well-known an- 

 ni^al or biennial root, common alike to the 

 field and the garden. The wild carrot, from 

 whence all those now commonly cultivated 

 came, is a native of England, found chiefly on 

 chalky hills. The kinds now preferred for 

 field culture are the long red, the Altringham, 

 and the orange. It is a crop which, for the 

 I;- uvier description of soils, is becoming more 

 and more cultivated in this country; for its 

 produce is not only large, but it can be grown 

 on lands not suited to turnip culture ; for 

 although the soils best adapted to it are deep 

 sandy loams, yet it can be grown successfully 

 on sands and peats. The carrot delights, how- 

 ever, in a deep soil, and thus land intended for 

 it can hardly be ploughed too deep. It is usual 

 to trench plough or subsoil for it ; and in Hol- 

 land they are even at the pains to deepen with 

 the spade the furrows made by the plough. It 

 may be sown, like the turnip, on ridges, by the 

 drill or otherwise, or broadcast. The seed 

 should be of the previous season's growth ; if 

 mixed a fortnight before sowing with two 

 bushels of sand or mould, kept wetted and 

 turned over once or twice, they will grow all 

 the better (Com. to Board of Jlgr. vol. vii. p. 70 

 299) ; and it keeps the seed from clinging to- 

 gether. (Jour, of Roy. Jlgr. Soc. of Eng. p. 40.) 

 The quantity proper to be sown per acre (April 

 is the best period) is two pounds by the drill, 

 and about five when sown broadcast. The 

 plants should be hoed out like turnips, and dug 

 up in October for storing; but they may be 

 left in the ground if preferred, and dug up as 

 they are wanted. They may be stored either 

 in a building covered with straw or haulm, or 

 in pits piled in heaps four feet deep. (Brit. 

 Husb. vol. ii. p. 287.) The common produce is 

 from 280 to 450 bushels per acre 9000 Ibs. 

 (Com. Board of Jlgr. vol. vi. p. 141.) .It is ad- 

 mirable food for all kinds of stock. (Low. Jlgr. 

 p. 326.) Either the tops mown off green, which 

 is said not to injure the roots (Cow. Board of 

 Jlgr. vol. v. p. 211), or the roots, for horses, 

 half a bushel a day, sliced in chaff, is admira- 

 ble food. (Youatt on the Horse, p. 358, 392, 213 ; 

 Brit. Husb. vol. i. p. 125.) 1000 parts of the 

 carrot contain 98 of nutritive matter. (Davy's 

 Lect.') It should be well manured with either 

 farm-yard dung (20 cubic yards per acre) ; or 

 pigeons' dung is excellent (Quar. Jour, of Jlgr. 

 vol. v. p. 144) ; or a mixture of salt, 6^ bushels, 

 and soot 6$, trenched in (Sinclair; Johnson on 

 Salt, 31, 146 ; Rev, E. Carticright, Com. Board of 

 Jlgr. vol. iv. p. 376) ; or sea-weed trenched in 

 fresh as collected from the shore (Quar. Jour, 

 of Jlgr. vol. vii. p. 268) ; or turf trenched in 

 deep (Com. Board of Jlgr. vol. iv. p. 191); or 

 street sweepings, mixed with one-third of pigs' 

 dung and 20 hogshead of liquid manure. (Flem. 

 Husb. 40.) The white or Belgian carrot has 

 teen recently tried as a field crop with consi- 

 derable success ; Sir C. Burrell having grown 

 of this variety in 1840, "on a very indifferent 

 field," 1000 bushels per acre (Brit. Farm. Mag. 

 vol. iv. p. 464) ; Lord Ducie, 26 tons 3 cwt. ; 

 266 



| and from 20 to 32 tons by Mr. Harris ; and in 

 Jersey 38 tons per acre. It is described in the 

 Report of the Yoxford Farmers' Club as well 

 adapted for strong or mixed soil lands, as keep- 

 ing well,, and as excellent food for horses. 

 (Journ. of Royal Agr. Soc. vol. ii. p. 42.) 



CARROT, THE GARDEN (Daucus carotaj 

 as some imagine from Jxju, though its taste is 

 far from being pungent. Perhaps from JWw?, 

 on account of the thickness of its root). There 

 are a considerable number of varieties of the 

 carrot, which are divided by horticulturists 

 into two families: those with a regular fusi- 

 form root, which are named long carrots; and 

 those having one that is nearly cylindrical, 

 abruptly terminating, but continuing with a 

 long slender tap-root, which are denominated 

 horn carrots. The first are employed for the 

 main crops ; the second, on account of their 

 superior delicate flavour, and are advantage- 

 ously grown for early use. They are likewise 

 commonly recommended for shallow soils. 

 Horn carrots, early red horn, common early 

 horn, long horn : this last is the best for the 

 summer crop. Long carrots, white, yellow, 

 long yellow, long red, Chertsey or Surrey, su- 

 perb green-topped or Altringham : the last two 

 are the best for main crops. Carrots should 

 have a warm, light, sandy, fertile soil, dug full 

 two spades deep, as they require to be deeper 

 than any other culinary vegetable. With the 

 bottom 'spit it is a good practice to turn in a 

 little well-decayed manure ; but no general ap- 

 plication of it to the surface should be allowed 

 in the year they are sown. A spot should be 

 allotted them which has been made rich for 

 the growth of crops in the previous year, or 

 else purposely prepared by manuring and 

 trenching in the preceding autumn. The fresh 

 application of manure is liable to cause their 

 growing forked, and to expend themselves in 

 fibres, as well as to be worm-eaten. If, how- 

 ever, the want of manure must be obviated at 

 the time of sowing, it should be used in a 

 highly putrescent state, and but in small quan- 

 tities, finely divided and well mixed with the 

 soil. If the soil is at all binding, it should be 

 well pulverized by digging very small pits at a 

 time, &c. Mr. Smith of Keith Hall, N. B., re- 

 commends pigeons' dung as the best manure 

 for this crop : it not only prevents the maggot, 

 but causes them to grow finer. He applies it 

 in the same proportion as is usually done of 

 stable manure. (Mem. Caled. Hort. Soc. vol. i. p. 

 129.) Carrots are propagated by seed. The 

 first sowing for the production of plants to 

 draw whilst young should take place in a mo- 

 derate hotbed during January, and in a warm 

 border at the conclusion of February or early 

 in March. At the close of the last month, or 

 more preferably in the early part of April, the 

 main crop must be inserted ; though, to avoid 

 the maggo^ it is even recommended not to do 

 so until its close. In May and July the sowing 

 may be repeated for production in autumn ; 

 and lastly, in August, to stand through the 

 winter, and produce in early spring. For sow- 

 in?, a calm day should be taken advantage of; 

 and, previous to commencing, the seeds should 

 be separated by rubbing them between the 

 hands, with the admixture of a little sand; 



